CUCULINJE. 127 







tipped with faint rufous, and finally whitish, having a broad dusky 

 subterminal band, and five other narrower and undulating zigzag 

 bands (one near the base) composed of a dusky bar, then a whit- 

 ish one adjoining, with some traces of rufous ; quills barred 

 with white on their inner webs for the basal two-thirds of 

 their length. 



The young bird has the upper plumage browner and rufous- 

 barred ; and the lower parts are whitish, tinged with rusty, and 

 with longitudinal brown drops. In older birds the spots are longi- 

 tudinal on the neck and breast, transverse and arrow-shaped on 

 the abdomen. 



With the exception of Sind, the Hawk Cuckoo is generally 

 spread throughout the district ; but there are parts of the Deccan 

 where it is absent or only occurs as a somewhat rare straggler. 



GENUS, Cacomantis, Mailer. 



Of small size ; plumage variable, grey or dusky above ; lower 

 plumage not barred in the normal adult state ; the tarsi less 

 plumed externally than in cuculus. 



Cacomantis passerinus, Vahl 



208. Polyphasia nigra, apud Blyth. Jerdon's Birds of India, 



Vol. I, p. 333; Butler, Guzerat ; Stray Feathers, Vol. Ill, 



p. 461 ; Deccan, Stray Feathers, Vol. IX, p. 388. 

 THE INDIAN PLAINTIVE CUCKOO. 



Length, 9 ; expanse, 14 ; wing, 4'5 ; tail, 4'5 ; tarsus, 0'6 ; bill 

 at front, O6. 



Bill blackish, red at base and gape ; irides rusty-red ; feet red- 

 dish-yellow. 



Adult, uniform dark -ashy above, with more or less of a green 

 gloss ; beneath pale ashy ; vent and under tail-coverts pure 

 white ; quills dusky, with a broad white band on the inner web of 

 each feather ; tail blackish ; the inner webs banded with white 

 (except the middle pair), and all tipped white. 



A common phase of this species in South India is dusky-cine- 

 reous, almost blackish above, with a greenish gloss beneath the 

 same, but less glossed ; tail as in the last, but darker and with 

 fewer white spots. 



The younger state of this phase is glossy dark-cinereous only 

 on the back and wings, the head and rump being ashy ; chin 

 and throat cinereous ; breast darker cinereous, banded with rufous 

 and white ; belly pale cinereous, faintly marked with pale rufous 

 and white ; under tail-coverts white ; tail as in the last. 



In some states of plumage all the upper parts are - bright 

 rufous, with dusky bars ; the primaries dusky brown with rufous 

 edges ; the tail rufous, all the outer feathers having dark bars 

 and a broader subterminal one, with a white spot at the tip ; 

 throat, neck and breast, pale rufous, with dusky bars ; and the 



